The Virgin, The Doctor and The Diamond
by Hanna-NotMontana
Summary: "No one would have thought they would be able to have a relationship together, let alone raise a baby, but it works out surprisingly well and after the first paranoia of leaving Sherlock alone with a small, helpless human had faded because he turned out to be the most attentive father anyone could have imagined, their friends stop checking in on them three times a day." Parentlock.
1. Chapter 1

_I was anonymously prompted to write something containting Parentlock that didn't involve Hamish as their son (geez anon, quite specific, are we?) and songs, and since I needed a small break from my Potterlock fic, I did this - a hopefully cute little oneshot._  
_**WARNING:** (Sort of) established John/Sherlock relationship, implied Mystrade, light references to drug abuse and dead bodies. Enjoy!_  
_**DISCLAIMER:** The songs mentioned belong to their artists and Sherlock, John and everyone else to ACD and the BBC._

* * *

**Prelude [****Just Give Me A Reason (Pink)**]  


Slowly, they're learning to trust each other again. And to love, although they don't have to learn that _again_, because it never stopped in the first place.

Sherlock has been broken by Moriarty, and John has been broken by Sherlock and when Sherlock comes back and John is just an empty shell, they both fear for a moment that it's too late, that they can never be as they were before. But then they realize that they're not broken, just bent.

X

Within three weeks, Sherlock proposes and John says no, because they're not ready for that, but after six months, John tries to get to Sherlock, who's unconscious and being carried away to the hospital but they won't let him through because he's not a significant other, at least not on the paper, and so as soon as he's finally at Sherlock's side (with the help of Mycroft and Lestrade- how did they end up working together?) he drops the question and Sherlock says yes although he doesn't believe in marriage, but with John, he does. Two days later, Sherlock is finally allowed out of hospital and three days later, two platinum bands make it official.

Another three months later, they make it out of an abandoned warehouse and John is still speckled in blood because he shot a kidnapper and Sherlock is carrying a baby – a very important baby of a very high-ranking person in Britain – because John has dislodged his shoulder and can't do it and Sherlock stares at the bundle in his arms and then to John and back to the bundle and back to John and announces: "I want one." John almost has a heart attack there on the spot but in the evening, they talk about it and he's always wanted children and Sherlock knows he's won when John kisses him that night and tells him he loves him more than he can possibly imagine. And while Sherlock can imagine quite a lot with this amazing brain of his, he believes John because sometimes John knows more than he does.

* * *

**Sherlock [****Wonderwall (Oasis)**]  


Hayley has to be wonder. How else an ovum from John's alcoholic sister Harriet's ovaries and sperm from Sherlock, mingled together and planted into Harriet's womb could turn out to be so utterly perfect is even beyond Sherlock's scientific understanding.

But Sherlock doesn't believe in wonders and so he figures that, romantic notion aside, because romance is dull most of the time, John and he must be perfect together. John's DNA, shared with his sister, to be precise, and Sherlock's DNA. Together, they have created the perfect human being and Sherlock loves their daughter as much as he loves John.

Maybe he is biased as her parent, but Hayley simply has no flaws. She is beautiful, she is smart - maybe not as smart as Sherlock or Mycroft, but at least as smart as The Woman; she is soft, but strong and the doubled addictive personality that a lot of people worry about (seeing as she's not only part Sherlock, Sherlock the drug addict, but also Harriet, the alcoholic) takes a healthy direction towards books. Hayley is only four, but she craves a good book more than anything else, and this is one addiction Sherlock can only support.

And when John is not around, Sherlock reads and talks to her, because she is half-John and that's wonderful and amazing, and he plays the violin for her just like he does for John and she falls asleep to it and, like John never chastises him for playing at three in the morning, because just like John, she loves Sherlock. Also, she's only four. Four-year olds don't chastise their fathers because they love them to death.

Sherlock had never thought that he'd ever be loved, or could love someone, and then there was John and now there is Hayley and he's loved by two people and he loves them back with every fibre of his being and it's not dull.

* * *

**Mrs. Hudson [****Angels (Robbie Williams)**]  


Hayley refers to Mrs. Hudson as "Mrs. H." for as long as she can think, and their not-housekeeper doesn't mind at all. She, like everyone else, loves John's and Sherlock's daughter to bits, has been nanny and grandma and adviser for her from the day of her birth.

They'd all been waiting for a boy, ever since the doctors had announced that Harriet, being the only female in all of the Watson-Holmes clan still alive and able to have children, was pregnant. There had been no tests, neither Sherlock nor John cared if the baby was a boy or a girl, but Harriet had always been sure that it was going to be a boy and so John, in between freaking out and being overly excited had painted his old room (from the times where they had needed two bedrooms – of course they had needed two bedrooms, he wasn't gay and Sherlock had The Work) in a rich blue colour. And obviously the boy would be named Hamish.

But then, in an agonizing 15 hours labour, where Harriet had cursed them all and was close to strangling Sherlock who'd tried to give her helpful tips regarding birth (something he'd admitted later he wasn't _per se_ an expert in), a small, pink baby girl with bright blue eyes and a mop of blonde hair had popped out of John's sister and she was perfect and they named her Hayley and she grew up in a blue room (that matched her eyes way better than if it would have been pink).

Hayley often visits Mrs. H. downstairs, skipping down the stairs from her room, ignoring the last two steps and rather jumping, and whenever her dad is working at the hospital (which is rare enough since he much rather spends his times at crime scenes with Sherlock) or her father is in one of his moods, she sooner or later pops up at 221A and has lunch or supper with Mrs. Hudson. Hayley thinks that if Mrs. Hudson ever were to leave Baker Street, England would fall.

* * *

**Mycroft [****Soul Food (Lynn Tait & The Jets)**]  


Uncle Mycroft is just about the coolest uncle on the planet.

7-year old Hayley knows that her father pretends to hate Uncle Mycroft and that her dad is careful around him, but one of her first memories is a wild race through carpeted halls on a pedal car, where she ended up crashing into a door that was opened just when she passed. It had been her Uncle Mycroft and he was just as shocked as herself. She had split her lip and a bump had been forming rapidly while her bright blue eyes had started to get watery. He'd scooped her up instantly and, after tending to her injuries, had organized ice cream and cake which they'd spooned together. It will be much later that Hayley realizes she's been in Buckingham Palace that day.

Now she makes sure to visit Uncle Mycroft at least once a week, because she thinks he's lonely sometimes, in the big offices, working his way through piles of paper. She brings cake and he smiles and they eat and no matter how much he pretends to be the Iceman (a title Hayley will hear being used by someone else when she's a bit older), he is warm and nice and funny and, like everyone else, completely infatuated with Hayley.

Mycroft often wonders how Sherlock, of all people, and the crippled, instable army doctor he's met all these years ago managed such a wonderful child. She doesn't spy on Sherlock for him – that's Watson genes, Mycroft supposes – but other than that she resembles his brother in so many ways (especially when she is young and careless), that Mycroft's protective instinct has kicked in instantly. So when they have cake between Mycroft ruling the United Kingdom and making sure Detective Inspector Lestrade is keeping Sherlock out of jail, it's worth it, because Hayley is wonderful and Mycroft loves her like he loves Sherlock. Only, this time around, he shows it.

* * *

**Irene [D****iamonds (Rihanna)**]  


Irene is Hayley's only secret. Although, knowing her father, it's maybe not that much of a secret after all.

They meet sporadically over the year, Irene texts and Hayley shows up. The first time they meet, Hayley is 12 and simply being snatched away by Irene when she is shopping with her dad. She instantly likes the woman and from then on, whenever Irene finds the time, she texts Hayley.

Hayley giggles when Irene tells her with a smirk that she once encountered Hayley's father completely naked, left his brain in a mess, and how jealous Hayley's dad had been. To be honest, Hayley finds it strange to think of John as a jealous man – it is Sherlock who is overly possessive of his things (to which John and Hayley count, whether they like it or not). Irene knows many a story and Hayley looks up to her as if she is a really cool older sister. Irene is beautiful and knows her way around words, and she and Hayley spend hours gossiping. She also keeps referring to Sherlock and Mycroft as The Virgin and The Iceman, something Hayley contradicts every time, but takes no offence in and when Irene doesn't stop and Hayley learns that in fact The Woman, the only woman who has ever mattered to Sherlock, is Irene, she, too, starts calling her The Woman.

The Woman loves Hayley, too, like she loves Sherlock, and in a world where a name has a weird power, The Woman starts calling Hayley _The Diamond,_ because that's what she is. The centerpiece of a perfect life; shining bright and clear.

* * *

**BONUS: ANDERSON [****I Couldn't Care Less (Leslie Clio)**]  


Not even Hayley, who gets along with almost everyone, can resist the urge of wanting to claw off her face when she meets Anderson for the first time.

The feeling is mutual, and Anderson, who still hasn't quite gotten over the fact that Sherlock is not dead after falling off St. Bart's and disappearing for over a year before coming back very much alive and despising Anderson even more than before almost has an heart attack when the word gets around that the Freak and his puppy have a kid.

The whole Yard had been gossiping about the two of them, about the heartbrokenness John had displayed after the Fall, about the way he had grieved far more than it would've been adequate for a friend, but no, they're not only a couple, no – they're also having a kid, a girl so they say and Anderson doesn't believe it.

That is, until he meets Hayley, who meets her parents at a crime scene (obviously suicide – how does the Freak even think of a murder, Anderson wonders – the crime scene is a room locked from the inside and the window is shut, so clearly suicide) and she looks very much, disturbingly so, like the Freak. Watson tells her about the case naturally and Anderson wants to protest because who the hell does he think he is – not only regularly visiting the crime scenes without being part of the team but also filling in a civilian – his own daughter – on confidential information.

When Anderson steps in between and tries to protest, she gives him a once-over glance (and he swears although she has blue eyes, she looks at him exactly like the Freak does) and tells him off-handedly that yes, her father (father, can you believe it?!) is right and that it's been murder and Anderson wonders, not for the first time, when his life had started to go downhill.

* * *

**Moriarty [****Just Like A Pill (Pink)**]  


Hayley found the newspapers when she was about six, but she doesn't get answers until she is old enough to understand her dad's blog. After reading about the Reichenbach Fall, how John has entitled the whole thing, reading about Richard Brook, about the suicide of a fake genius and a heart-broken ex-army doctor, she sits in her room and cries.

Cries, because someone had dared to come between her parents, because her father had to jump and had to break her dad's heart. True, Sherlock had come back and he had told John he loved him and then Hayley came, but the story is so incredibly sad and the fact that she still, almost 14 years later, finds graffiti on the wall, saying SHERLOCK WAS REAL and I BELIEVE IN SHERLOCK HOLMES is too much. Sherlock finds her on the bed the day she finds out about Reichenbach, because she's crying so loud it disturbs his concentration, but he doesn't know what to do, so he, for the first time, panics and calls John, who rushes over from the Hospital.

The doctor comes home to his mad, wonderful Sherlock and their completely disheveled daughter sitting on the bed, with Sherlock having his arms draped around Hayley securely, sending John helpless looks. This night, Sherlock doesn't experiment, John doesn't work and Hayley ignores Doctor Who because the Watson-Holmes clan bonds over the Reichenbach Fall.

Hayley hates no-one more than she hates Jim Moriarty and although the old newspapers claim he's dead, shot himself in the head (which Sherlock confirms), she can never quite believe it.

At the other end of London, a small, fragile, pale face watches the CCTV material of a tall girl with bright blue eyes walking down Baker Street, and he says into the dark room: "Oh Sherlock –you've been such a naughty boy…"

Hayley hates Moriarty, and Moriarty, like everybody else, loves her because he sees Sherlock in her and there's nothing he needs more than a Holmes in his life.

* * *

**Greg [****Don't Stop Me Now (Queen)**]  


When John told Greg that he and Sherlock were having a baby, Greg laughed, got drunk and tried to forget it. However, in the morning Greg had a giant hang-over and Sherlock and John were still having a baby. Well, Harriet was having the baby and giving it to the two men but the result was the same. Sherlock and John were having a baby. Sherlock bloody Holmes. And John Watson.

And suddenly there's a baby and it's a girl and Greg is supposed to be a Godfather and of course he says yes because he, like everyone else, falls in love with her when he sees her for the first time. Secretly, he also wants to make sure she doesn't do the same stupid things Sherlock used to do (drugs, namely) and he considers his effort successful when he finds her in the police station one night, arrested with a bunch of other clearly drugged kids, but her test is negative and she willingly hands over the syringe from her handbag. He delivers her home at three in the morning, Sherlock is still awake and knows what's happened without a single word.

However, the look he sends Lestrade (who will always be called by his last name because who the hell is 'Greg'?!) is almost thankful and this night, or early morning, he sits down with Hayley and tells her about the time Greg had found him in the gutter, over-dosed and half-dead. The next day, Greg finds a bunch of flowers on his desk (because like Sherlock, Hayley is not always sure about social protocol and flowers as a thank you gesture seemed appropriate) and takes them home. Mycroft asks about them, naturally, and he watches his niece closely after that – he will never talk to her directly about it, because Hayley doesn't know about him and the DI (yet) and it's not important anyways, but from that one night on, Greg sometimes gets a bunch of flowers, whenever Hayley feels the urge to give in, like Sherlock had, and he knows she once again stopped herself, thinking back to the night he found her.

Greg has not only saved Sherlock's life, but also Hayley's and in the nights, he lies down next to Mycroft, mutters "Bloody Holmeses" and loves his life.

* * *

**John [****My Girl (The Temptations)**]  


Hayley with her 16 years seems to become more beautiful each day and although it makes John proud of his- no, _their_ daughter, he also worries.

When she skips down the stairs, always leaving out the last two and instead jumping, ready to go out to the rainy London streets, the dark, glossy curls she has inherited from Sherlock bounce wildly and her blue eyes, courtesy of Harriet and therefore John glisten with enthusiasm. When at home, she shares John's love for comfy jumpers, but when she's going out, she dresses impeccably, in a long coat that looks suspiciously like Sherlock's, just tailored for her (because of course she gets tailored clothes, nothing cheap for the only Holmes offspring – Mummy Holmes – or Grandma, for Hayley - makes sure of that) and accentuating the high cheekbones and she looks stunning and John feels like making sure nothing happens to her because in so many ways, she's like her father; careless and swift and not holding back and John loves it but at the same time he worries. _Constantly_, a voice sounding suspiciously like Mycroft, adds.

But when Hayley sees the worry on her dad's face, she laughs, her Watson-eyes drill themselves into John's in a Sherlock-ish manner and she kisses his cheek goodbye, patting her handbag with the small gun, because of course John has taught her how to shoot and she knows how to deal with danger. She is a Watson after all. Just as much as a Holmes.

* * *

**221B  
**

There are never quiet days in Baker Street but none of the three residents in 221B minds.

No one would have thought the two weird men, one an instable ex-army-doctor, the other a drug addict that gets off on crimes would be able to have a relationship together, let alone raise a baby, but it works out surprisingly well and after the first paranoia of leaving Sherlock alone with a small, helpless human had faded because he turned out to be the most attentive father anyone could have imagined, John's and Sherlock's friends stop checking in on them three times a day. (They reduce it to one time a day – better safe than sorry.)

Hayley grows up and she is perfect and of course she gets into fights with her fathers because John won't allow her a cat as a pet ("Just because _you_ survived Sherlock doesn't mean a cat will!") and Sherlock thinks she shouldn't go out with Bobby Westfield ("He is dull and predictable and his name is Bobby!") and then there are the arguments that only happen in 221B because Hayley wakes up to find eyeballs in the cereals box, which she doesn't mind so much but John does, or the milk is gone – they never seem to have milk, it's a wonder Hayley's bones are as strong as they are. Sometimes Hayley and Sherlock stay up all night, doing experiments and maybe Hayley forgets to do her homework because of that and maybe she is expelled from school once or twice because her teachers are stupid and don't like to be corrected and whenever something like that happens, John gets this '100-%-done-with-you-two' face and leaves for a long walk through Regent's Park. At first, Hayley (and Sherlock, depending on if he was involved or not) sulk in the sitting room for a while, but then Hayley grabs her coat and runs after her dad. They'd walk in silence until John sighs and throws his arm around her and she squirms but lets him. At home, he'd call Sherlock a tosser and would make tea and Sherlock follows him and sneaks a kiss and the three of them are good again.

There are many stories to tell, involving lost dummies (a case Sherlock takes more serious than a triple-murder because he never wants to see one-and-a-half-year-old Hayley's eyes look that sad again), kindergarten bullies (John sends the two years older boy who shoved Hayley a look he'd used in the army to frighten insubordinate cadets) and a broken-hearted 13-year-old Hayley (Sherlock suggests various gruesome methods of disposing of the boy while John, being more practical – and interested to keep his husband out of jail, thank you very much – makes tea and gets cookies from Mrs. Hudson) but Hayley has written them all down in a pile of diaries and for now, she closes her latest one, because it's Saturday evening, Doctor Who will be on in a few minutes and she'll have to find the remote, which Sherlock tries to hide every week to stop her and John from spending the evening in front of the telly, first. Although, knowing her father as well as she does, and relying on her own abilities, she knows that this is not going to take long.


	2. That one time

_Second chapter, with glimpses into the life of John, Sherlock and Hayley. Because I wanted to. Enjoy :)_

* * *

**Sherlock – That one time Hayley learned to swim and spoke her first word(s) which, coincidentally, had to do a lot with each other  
[I'm Still Standing (Elton John)]**

There are a great number of threats to Hayley throughout her life – with her being the daughter of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson – but not always the threats are coming from strangers. Sometimes, danger comes from within the family. Namely, from Sherlock.

John is working at the hospital when Lestrade calls, and Mrs. Hudson is visiting her sister and Sherlock – you really need to give him that, in retrospect – has enough sense not to leave five-year-old Hayley alone in a flat full of body parts and chemicals of more or less deadly effect. However, taking her on a case is admittedly not one of his best ideas.

That only shows, though, when he's casing after the suspect, Hayley pressed snug against his chest (because she obviously can't run as fast as he can and he can't very well put her down somewhere, can he?!) and finally catches up on the man on Tower Bridge. Turns out, in a hand-to-hand combat, the detective with the toddler has a slight disadvantage. Causing him to topple over the rail. With a happily squealing Hayley in his arms.

On the up side, Hayley learns to swim quite early in her life, and perfects it instantly. She kind of has to, because she instinctively knows that drowning is not-good. But when daughter and father stand on the riverbank of the River Thames, completely soaked and dirty, that doesn't quite make up for it and Hayley, who hasn't spoken a word until then (because, just like her father who didn't speak until he was 6 but then started with full sentences) - she rather built up a vocabulary before uttering mindless things like 'dada' and 'googoo' - tells Sherlock in a conspiratorial voice: "Maybe we shouldn't tell daddy about this." And Sherlock, torn between annoyance about the suspect escaping and delight at his miraculous daughter, nods. "Sound observation."

It becomes sort of their thing over the years – plotting on not telling John things – but both of them are surprisingly bad at hiding things from John and this is no exception – when they come home, he is already waiting for them and shoves Hayley in the bathtub while a sheepish looking, dripping Sherlock stands next to him in the bathroom and is being giving a telling-off. (John was on break when the TV in the cafeteria switched channels to an important BBC News report showing – in slow motion and on repeat – how his completely nuts husband and their squealing daughter had fallen off Tower Bridge.)

* * *

**Mycroft – That one time someone tried to kidnap Hayley and everything turned into a Big Brother episode  
[Trouble Is A Friend (Lenka)]**

When Hayley is seven and a half, she gets kidnapped for the first time. Needless to say, it doesn't end well – for the kidnappers. Their first mistake is to get out of the van instead of just driving up and dragging her in. Their second mistake is to try and kidnap Hayley Watson-Holmes.

As usually when she is on her way home from school, Hayley has waved at all the CCTV cameras she could find and currently, she's making funny faces at the surveillance camera of an electronics shop because she can see herself on the monitors in the shop window (and most likely it's Anthea's turn to watch her on her way home and she likes to entertain Uncle Mycroft's assistant). So, in the middle of a particularly hilarious face, a tall man wearing a hoodie roughly yanks at her arm.

She doesn't shriek, but gives him and the waiting van a once over glance before telling him: "This is going to be a kidnapping, isn't it? You probably shouldn't do this."

The man tells her to shut up and get into the van, though, (now he's certain he's got Holmes' kid) and with an exasperated sigh and one last wave at the camera, she obediently follows. She does give him a warning, though, to be fair. "You _really_ shouldn't do his." Of course she is a bit scared – not overly so, she is confident in her family, but still, she's only seven and who knows what the man is going to do to her – but she tries not to show it. She has learned from her father, and uses the blank face. _She can do this._

The kidnapper only grunts non-committal (maybe he didn't understand her because of the noise, but most likely he's stupid) and then the actual kidnapping begins – only to end abruptly eight minutes later. The van suddenly stops with screeching tyres, the man with the hood curses and then the doors bang open again, a SWAT squad tackles him to the ground and none else than Uncle Mycroft in person stands in the door. Hayley quickly climbs out and hugs him, seeing the concern on his face.

"Thank you for saving me!" she exclaims happily, and he lifts his eyebrows, amused now rather than concerned. "You were not scared?"

She just shakes her head as if that was obvious. "No. I told them it was a bad idea. I knew you'd come!" And then she slips her hand in Mycroft's and they make their way home to Baker Street.

* * *

**Irene – That one time Hayley really needed a woman in her life because her father's were completely useless**

**[(Run The World (Girls) (Beyonce)]**

Growing up in an all-male household is not easy for Hayley sometimes. Sure, there is Mrs. Hudson, Auntie Harry and Grandma, but neither of them is available when Hayley wakes up one Saturday morning and her mattress looks like she'd just killed 300 Spartans. With her bare thighs.

Technically, she knows about periods, and what happens when girls grow into women but actually seeing, experiencing it is scary. Also, the crippling pain on her inside is not something she can or wants to deal with. Knowing that her dad would probably just make some tea and her father would want some samples – gross! – she grabs her phone and texts The Woman.

Irene arrives twenty minutes later with a small sponge bag full of useful stuff (that the inside of 221B has never seen before) and after Hayley re-emerges from the bathroom, she writes a quick note to her parents (who are, most likely, chasing the one or the other criminal or beating up corpses at the morgue) and leaves with Irene. The Woman, full of sympathy for the young girl in agony decides on a spa-day and Hayley is incredibly thankful for that. An hour and two cucumber face masks later - the two of them are just relaxing while waiting for a mani-pedi – Anthea walks in wordlessly and Hayley rolls her eyes because no doubt Uncle Mycroft has sent her in on her free day so she can keep an eye on his pubescent niece.

Hayley already gathers breath to apologize, but Anthea just smirks (as much as possible when your face is being slathered in some peach-papaya mousse) and tells her: "I don't mind – besides, your uncle is paying." And when Hayley gets a text in the afternoon, reading:

**Hi Hayley, it's Molly! Sherlock says you might want to pet a cat and I'm to invite you. Well, would you like to stop by? – Molly**

She smiles at her father's strange but obviously trying-to-be-helpful attempt of care and answers Molly (whom she really likes, and has known for years now, ever since Sherlock started taking his daughter to the morgue).

Hayley thinks that maybe periods aren't that bad as long as you have cucumber face masks and cats to pet. And a loving (slightly extended, slightly mad, every bit wonderful) family.

* * *

**Greg – That one time Hayley got drunk and it was really not her fault  
[Blame It (Jamie Foxx)]**

When Greg gets the call from Sherlock, he immediately rushed over to the flat (although not without a good video camera because even if drugged Sherlock is still funny after all these years, drunk Sherlock will be even funnier). However, upon his arrival he's greeted by a very sober, slightly annoyed Sherlock and then he hears a thump, followed by some giggling.

Apparently he's been excited for the wrong family member to be drunk.

"This is infuriating, Lestrade. Do something," the detective demands and Greg, torn between worry – what has the imbecile done to his daughter?! - and curiosity, follows Sherlock upstairs. And finds his god-daughter giggling on the couch, a carton of orange juice abandoned before her. She's roaring drunk.

"What the hell did you do to her?" Greg immediately asks, turning to Sherlock who looks as innocent and unassuming as ever. And although Sherlock challenges Greg's suspicion, Hayley is in no state to twist the truth around and before her father can have a go at her Godfather, she tells him – slurring, and with a lot of giggling – what happened. Namely, that the labels of the cartons in the fridge have fallen off and she had grabbed a carton of orange juice, having no clue that Sherlock had spiked it with something. It was tasteless, and only started working after she had emptied the whole carton – but now she's roaring drunk and the world is pleasantly fuzzy.

"You poisoned your daughter?!" Greg can't believe it, and death glares at Sherlock, who glares right back. Firstly, he's not poisoned her, she's just drunk. And secondly, it's not his fault the labels have fallen off (if it was for him, there wouldn't even be labels, so everyone should just grateful for them being there!). Usually, he would've added that Hayley was stupid for drinking something potentially dangerous, but she's his daughter and he won't talk about her like that.

"She's under age, Sherlock! You shouldn't even _have_ spiked orange juice in your fridge!"

"Yes, thank you for explaining the law to me, Lestrade," Sherlock argues back and for a while, they fight loudly, with Hayley sitting in between them and watching them from her bright blue John eyes, that – even when she's pissed – look exactly like her dad's. She's clearly entertained.

Finally, Greg finds out why he's here – Sherlock originally wanted to get John but he's not answering his phone. So now Sherlock wants a _manhunt_. Which, of course, is not going to happen. But Greg knows exactly who can help. The eyes and ears of London.

"Are you calling my brother?! Tell him he's a-"

"Sherlock says he loves you," Greg tells Mycroft sarcastically.

"I can just imagine that," is the dry reply.

"Is that Uncle Mycroft? Tell him I love him. Oh, and you too. And everyone. The world is… pink." Hayley pipes up from the sofa. (Apparently, she's a happy drunk and also very content with the wisdom she has just achieved.)

"Your drunk niece loves you, too," Greg adds, and Mycroft almost chuckles (except he doesn't because he's Mycroft and because his brother made his niece drunk.) However, he does find John (already on his way home – phone battery died) and after some struggle (and a lot of yelling from John's side at Sherlock) the three men (amused-angry Greg, angry-angry John and annoyed Sherlock) convince Hayley to go to sleep. Which is not an easy task because she's a Watson and a Holmes. 'Stubborn' might as well be her second name.

In the morning, Greg pops in again with breakfast, knowing how awful Hayley most likely is going to feel. He's right. Sherlock is busy binning the contents of the fridge, supervised by a still glaring John, and Hayley is laying with her head on the kitchen table, groaning and whimpering from time to time.

"I am dying, Uncle Greg," she groans without looking up from the table, voice raspy.

Well, it's obvious that Hayley has definitely not the Watson ability to hold her liquor (for which everyone, especially John, thinking of Harry, is glad about) and then Greg once again settles down to care for another Holmes in his life – even if it's just hangover breakfast.

* * *

**John – That one time Hayley went to prom armed for the war  
[Isn't She Lovely (Stevie Wonder)]**

"MRS. HUDSON!" Hayley hollers through the flat and John smirks. In moments like this, his daughter reminds him so much of Sherlock it almost physically hurts. His beautiful, mad husband and their equally beautiful but a little less-mad daughter. Speaking of – Hayley is running through the flat, still searching for the sash of her dress and she's a flash of blue, cream and black. It's her prom, and John will be damned if she's not going to be the prettiest girl that night. (Technically, unbiased as John is, she always is the prettiest girl, but that's technicalities.) She's the sort of girl everyone would be glad to dance with.

She's wearing a blue dress, a blue matching her eyes so perfectly John is pretty sure mummy Holmes has spent a small fortune on getting the colour right, and the mass of dark curls – courtesy of her father – is twisted up artfully, a few strays coming loose (because half an hour earlier, Hayley has been wearing safety goggles and was standing next to her father, bent over an in-acid-dissolving pig's head, dress covered by John's cooking apron, and the goggles have plucked out some strays of hair, but she looks even more pretty like that if that is possible).

Mrs. Hudson arrives with the sash embroidered with something that looks suspiciously like diamonds and then Hayley turns on the spot and the flat looks like being illuminated by a mirror ball.

Then it's time for photos – Mrs. Hudson and Hayley, Sherlock and Hayley, John and Hayley, John and Sherlock and Hayley (and Sherlock hates pictures, but looks very smug, standing tall next to his equally tall daughter (and John feels like a dwarf)) and then John watches how his husband grins when Hayley shows him that there's a metal piece hidden in the heel of her shoe so she can pick locks and she's got hair spray and a lighter in her handbag, as well as the small gun. Oh, and the really sharp bobby pins in her hair. Of course, if anything is going to happen to her, the whole of Scotland Yard as well as half of the Queen's Guard will be out looking for her within seconds, not to mention the deadly force that is John and Sherlock when their daughter's in danger, but she can deal with trouble by herself just as well.

She is their daughter without doubt, she's got Sherlock's mind, John's compassion, Sherlock's focus and John's steel.

And she shines like a diamond.

* * *

**Hayley – That one time Hayley had to kill for her parents and did so without a second thought  
[Roar (Katy Perry)]**

She is smart enough to realize her appendix is about to burst when she wakes up and barely makes it to the bathroom before emptying the Chinese take away from the evening before into the toilet bowl.

She calls for her dad – he is a doctor, after all (and her father would probably want to try and do it by himself because he's read books about it or something) – and not even thirty minutes later she's at the A&E and being prepared for surgery. Before she's being carried into the operating theatre she notices something odd about one of the male nurses but she can't put her finger on it and then she's under and everything goes black.

When she wakes again, her mouth his dry, her side aching and her dad is sleeping next to her in a chair, which wouldn't be odd per se, but her father is _also _there and he's sitting on the _floor_, against the wall, asleep too.

Her eyes slowly wander to an empty syringe and then to the punctures in her parents' necks. Now, it's hard to focus right after having woken up from being under anaesthetic and after having had removed your appendix, but for once, Hayley is not your normal patient and secondly – someone attacked her parents.

They're both breathing - at least they're not dead – but Hayley has a pretty good idea of what's going to happen next. She moves as quickly as she can, and then she hears steps coming closer and she lets her eyes fall shut again (fighting against the darkness that tries to swallow her). Then the door opens and the fake nurse - Hayley knew it! – comes in with some sort of carriage, talking rapidly into a phone. Apparently he wants to load the Holmes-Watson family onto a stretcher and just roll them out. The plan's not bad, but Hayley can only hear the words 'kill the freak and the doctor… only need the girl' echo through her mind. She is not going to let that happen. No one threatens or hurts her family.

Her fingers tighten around the empty syringe in her hand and when she feels the presence of the man next to her and hears a gun being cocked, she moves, quick as a snake, and sinks the syringe into the unassuming man's throat. A dose of air right into the bloodstream is not exactly healthy. He topples over.

15 minutes later, John wakes up and Sherlock does, too, and there's a lot of commotion. Only later, Hayley realizes she has just killed a man. "He wasn't a very nice man, though," John tells her, face still hard, but voice soft and hand petting his daughter's hair. "A frankly awful nurse, too," Sherlock adds. He is pale, paler than usual, and Hayley knows it's a sign of his distress.

She thinks she'd kill the man all over again if it was to save her family. No one messes with Hayley.

* * *

**The Family – That one time Hayley got her first job and her father absolutely hated it**

Sherlock sulks for over a week when Hayley announces she is going to work for the Yard. As in, become a Detective Inspector some day. At first, Sherlock doesn't talk to anyone, then he starts to argue with Hayley (and John can only watch in amusement – and slight worry, of course – when their arguing switches from English to French, then Russian, then German, and back to English again).

The Consulting Detective doesn't see why Hayley would want to work for the imbeciles at the Yard, when she could be almost anything else – she speaks 6 languages fluidly, can play the violin almost as good as Sherlock and has amazing grades – but she has her reasons.

On her first day, John walks with her for a while (not all the way to the police academy, where she will start her training, though, because that would be embarrassing – she's 19 years old, she doesn't need her dad to deliver her somewhere like a little kid – but secretly she's glad he's with her) and before they part, he presses a kiss to her temple. "You'll be amazing. And your father is going to come to terms with it… eventually." He grins. "It only took him half a year or so to accept that you actually like Mycroft."

"Uncle Mycroft is the best," Hayley confirms firmly, but with a smirk. She knows neither of her parents thinks that way.

"Everyone's entitled to their opinions," John concludes diplomatically. "Anyways, Sherlock will manage. Once he realizes he'll have another insider at the Yard that actually likes him and doesn't want to strangle him whenever he talks to them, he'll start to see the benefits."

Hayley of course knows this, knows that her father doesn't actually hate her or anything for working at the Yard, and she gives her dad one last reassuring look before taking a deep breath and skipping up the few stairs to the entrance. Before she enters the building, she waves at the CCTV camera, flashes John a smile and then she's gone.

As predicted, Sherlock eventually accepts the fact that Hayley now works with 'the stupid lot' – but takes great satisfaction in the knowledge that she'll climb the ladder fast, and will always be the smartest there – and when she, as the youngest person in the last fifty years, is announced Detective Inspector, filling her Uncle Greg's shoes, Sherlock naturally stands next to her, beaming with pride.

Even after Hayley eventually moves out (just into 221C, because she could never leave Baker Street!) the old flat is warm and welcoming, as opposed to the beginning, when a lonely Consulting Detective was looking for a flat-share. The Christmases are legendary, the family and friends gather, and although Sherlock wouldn't know (because the solar system is tedious) the Earth revolves around 221B Baker Street, and the people that inhabit it.


End file.
